Utility bills, am I paying too much? Gas/electric bill's are crippling me.

[101d]

I currently pay £68 PM for Gas/Electricity. (this can go up/down quarterly depending on how much we have spent. But it is never higher than around £80)

This is in the South East, in a 2-bed end of terrace.

You definitely need to change!! We are with EON. xx

 

[Tui]

That sounds insane... I suggest making a list of all the items in your house which use electricity or gas and go through each one by one working out if you are using it a lot, how you can cut down, is there any faults with it.

I strongly recommend Money Saving Expert, it's a mine of useful information and the forums are full of very clever people

Energy Mythbusting

Top energy-saving tips and energy myth-busting from Money Saving Expert. Find out how you can save on your gas and electricity bills using simple tricks.

www.moneysavingexpert.com

 

[Pinchme]

Something is wrong, your bills are far too high.

I'm in a 4bed detached bungalow, home most of the day, heating on all day from 6.30am to 10pm, I pay £90 a month for both gas and electric, always in credit after the summer months that sees me through the winter months. I'm with EON.

Get on the phone and hopefully you can get it sorted.

 

[Dot_Cotton]

So from that you have 14 calendar days from 8/12 (as it starts the day after you renewed) if you cancelled this with BG within this time then they shouldn’t be applying exit fees. I would put a complaint in writng by email. Just simply say the date you renewed and the date you cancelled and you want the exit fees removed. I will have a quick look for the appropriate licence condition for you to chuck in too.

SLC
0.3 The Standards of Conduct are that the licensee and any Representative:
a) b)
behave and carry out any actions in a Fair, honest, transparent, appropriate and professional manner;
provide information (whether in Writing or orally) to each Domestic Customer which:
i. is complete, accurate and not misleading (in terms of the information provided or
omitted);
ii. is communicated (and, if provided in Writing, drafted) in plain and intelligible
language with more important information being given appropriate prominence;

BG aren’t treating you fairly by not adhering to their own terms stated on their renewal letter.

 

[Tin&Gonic]

British gas..we tried. We paid our final bill and tried, the company we went with told us British gas had blocked it. I said earlier I wasn't in a good place then so let it slide. Plan on moving again, this time I will not.

Go on Moneysupermarket.com and set it up through there. If you are genuinely being blocked by BG - you are probably paying for the last tennant. I'm in Leccy sales so know this

 

[F the dust.]

I would definitely contact the ombudsman

We're in another much smaller house now, yet bills haven't changed much...the debt here was £300..im selling this one too..do when we do move I will change supplier! We tried when moving here and British gas blocked it despite us paying out final bills...nit suspicious. I wasn't in a good place mentally to fight it. This time I will because it's shady to say the least

 

[F the dust.]

That sounds insane... I suggest making a list of all the items in your house which use electricity or gas and go through each one by one working out if you are using it a lot, how you can cut down, is there any faults with it.

I strongly recommend Money Saving Expert, it's a mine of useful information and the forums are full of very clever people

Energy Mythbusting

Top energy-saving tips and energy myth-busting from Money Saving Expert. Find out how you can save on your gas and electricity bills using simple tricks.

www.moneysavingexpert.com

Brilliant Thankyou! Looks like a good place to start!

 

[F the dust.]

Do you have storage heaters? My bills were extortionate and I EVENTUALLY realised that I was using the storage heaters wrongly. I’d never had them before.

No not storage heaters, we buy houses needing tlc and I know for sure twice they were left in debt with utilities...I'm convinced though haven't been able to prove it that we're paying those on top of our usage?

 

[Jc456]

Do you have smart meters?

 

[Juliet]

That is extortionate. I live in a quite a small 2 bed house, I pay 80/100 a month on electric and 120/140 a month gas.

 

[F the dust.]

I am so sorry you have had a tough time previously, and burying your head when these sorts of things happens is incredibly common so please dont beat yourself up about it.

Do you have a Citizen's Advice Bureau nearby? They would be able to help you with this, and would help you draft letters to British Gas.

You dont have to provide them with the previous owner's new address, you just have to provide proof of the day you moved in, so either a tenancy agreement or your confirmation from solicitor of the day you bought it. Do you have a meter reading by any chance?

If you can find the meters and see how much you are using as it sounds like you are using way more than you should be for a property of that size.

Do talk to CAB if you can, they are there to help and will do all they can to get you straight.

Yes I believe we have one locally. I might seek their advice. We've questioned them regarding the previous debt. They deny it. Make an off the cuff remark that they even sounded surprised at our electric bill. But claim it's right. We gave them our meter reading the day after moving in. And have since in November. I feel it's like David and Goliath...that they're too big to beat.

Do you have smart meters?

No. They were in when we moved in but weren't working and subsequently removed.

 

[F the dust.]

That is extortionate. I live in a quite a small 2 bed house, I pay 80/100 a month on electric and 120/140 a month gas.

Honestly I can't believe it. It's really putting a strain on our finances. I'm going to check if we can change provider? I'm hopeless and not sure of our terms. I just panic and get upset at each bill.

 

[F the dust.]

Change-and tell them why
We went to hell with British Gas when my granddad died
He was £160 in credit (said them)
But rather than pay us back they then plucked over £1500 in debt out of thin air
We ended up going through hell and turned out they owed us £450 which we got-well over two years later and the rest ‘wiped’
Which is just what you need when you’ve lost a loved one
I think they thought we’d just cough up to get shot
Take it to the ombudsman and let them deal with it if you get nowhere with them

I'm so sorry to hear that you went through all that. Dreadful. It does however concrete my feelings they're not at all to be trusted x

I currently pay £68 PM for Gas/Electricity. (this can go up/down quarterly depending on how much we have spent. But it is never higher than around £80)

This is in the South East, in a 2-bed end of terrace.

You definitely need to change!! We are with EON. xx

We have tried, they blocked it..I'm wondering if that's even allowed? But we're certainly going to have to try again. Or look into ombudsmen or something.

 

[Lulu Goss]

We pay £60 - three bed terrace house. Ours is a fixed amount, we’re with British Gas.

 

[F the dust.]

I live in a 4 bed, detached house in Suffolk. I pay £86 a month for gas & electric combined, this is with EDF. I would look at changing x

I'm going to square up my bill and try. They blocked it last time we tried. If they do so again I'm going to citizens advice bureau!

 

[Titntat]

Sorry to bump this threat but my energy bills have gone mad in the lock down. Family of 4 but 3 of us are in all day. Ive recently got a smart meter were using £3.50 electric (we have solar pannels) and £4 gas per day.

Any else experiencing this Might tell the kids to go and pop a scarf on or something to reduce the gas

 

[F the dust.]

Hope you’re ok now.
Both mine are metered so I’m not sure how the billing system works? Do they send a bill weekly and you just haven’t been checking if you’re paying the right amount?

Quarterly bills now. We rang in Nov and were thrilled to be in credit with gas and owed £200 on electric.. making regular but smaller payments due to Christmas I thought we were finally ok. But no. I'm not good at explaining..apparently we were still paying the owed money then and this bill is the new amount. for the 3 months. Hope this makes sense? Other than summer we seem to use about £400 each a quarter.

 

[Dot_Cotton]

@Dot_Cotton marvellous. Thank you! I’m worried they might try and tie me up in knots and tell me I tried to leave to early or something. Can you tell I’m a first time homeowner in my 30s

It’s dead tricky to deal with suppliers sometimes. But fingers crossed for you. It’s about £80 isn’t it for both fuels. If you don’t get anywhere raise an official complaint and you can take it to the ombudsman if not resolved within 8 weeks.

@Dot_Cotton marvellous. Thank you! I’m worried they might try and tie me up in knots and tell me I tried to leave to early or something. Can you tell I’m a first time homeowner in my 30s

It’s dead tricky to deal with suppliers sometimes. But fingers crossed for you. It’s about £80 isn’t it for both fuels. If you don’t get anywhere raise an official complaint and you can take it to the ombudsman if not resolved within 8 weeks.

 

[Juliet]

So you were still paying the money owed from the previous owners but thought you were paying your own? Then because you weren’t paying your own it has mounted up?

 

[it’s not been changed?!]

You renewed on 12 Dec as that is when your previous agreement ended so it didn’t come into affect until then even though you registered the renewal on 7 Dec. Do you have the renewals letter, what are the terms about cooling off on there? If it is 14 days it would surely be from 7 Dec? But I imagine you would have to have contacted BG within 14 days rather than just transfer. Hope that makes sense.

Yeh, I was expecting it to be 14 days from the 7th. So when I called them on the 14th, I was well within my 14 days.
There isn’t anything on the back of my letter about cooling off but I just looked back through my emails and this is what it says. The second image is after I renewed with b.gas. Doesn’t say anything about cooling off and leaving the supplier.